The Count of Monte Cristo

Alexandre Dumas

Chapters 63–67

Chapters 68–76, page 2

page 1 of 3

Chapter 68: The Office of the Procureur du Roi

Madame Danglars visits Villefort’s office, cursing their
terrible luck at having their past dredged up again. Villefort,
however, swears that the situation has nothing to do with luck.
Monte Cristo, he explains, could not have found the skeleton of
their child because the man who stabbed Villefort—Bertuccio—stole
the box with the corpse from Villefort. He deduces that the child
must have still been alive; if it had been dead, Bertuccio would
have shown its corpse to the police and had Villefort arrested for
murder as soon as he realized Villefort was still alive.

Concluding that the child must in fact still
be alive, Villefort and Madame Danglars understand that they are
in much danger. The fact that Monte Cristo seems to know of their
crime makes their situation even more perilous. Villefort promises
Madame Danglars that he will discover who the Count of Monte Cristo
really is and find out how he knows so much about their past.

Chapter 69: A Summer Ball

That same day, Albert de Morcerf visits Monte Cristo and
invites him to his family’s ball.

Chapter 70: The Inquiry

Making inquiries through his police contacts,
Villefort discovers that Monte Cristo has two old acquaintances
living in Paris. The first is an Italian priest named Abbé Busoni,
the other an English aristocrat named Lord Wilmore. Villefort sends
the police commissioner to visit Busoni first. Busoni (Monte Cristo
in disguise, of course) says that he has known Monte Cristo for
decades and reveals that Monte Cristo is really the son of a rich
Maltese shipbuilder. He mentions that Monte Cristo’s only enemy
is Lord Wilmore.

Villefort visits Wilmore himself. Wilmore (again, Monte
Cristo in disguise) claims that Monte Cristo is a speculator who
made his vast fortune when he discovered a silver mine in the Middle
East. When asked why Monte Cristo has purchased the house in Auteuil, Wilmore
explains that Monte Cristo hopes to dig up a mineral spring in the
area. Villefort is relieved by this information.

Chapter 71: The Ball

Monte Cristo is the center of attention at the Morcerfs’
ball. Mercédès notices that he refuses to eat or drink anything
the entire evening.

This for the full version if your not reading the full version this will get you even more confused than the book does. The Count of Monte Christo is a good book but not when your confused about the Plot i'm in the middle of reading it and think the spark notes really help.